Is Varys manipulating Ser Barristan from afar?

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This video was co-written with the excellent @HistoryofWesteros

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[ShawnHCorey]

"Is Varys manipulating...?" Yes.

[siobhandolores]

AltShiftX and In Deep Geek should get some percentage of the profit for TWOW's sales because they keep the new book alive more than George or Random House does

[rasmusliedberg]

“That’s what made Ser Barristan ragequit”

Made me laugh out loud, that’s hilarious and quite accurate.

[sblinder]

9:22 Can't wait for Young Griff to summon a giant sandworm to Westeros

[chrisr]

The show did a bad job in portraying Barristan's internal conflicts during Joffrey's reign of terror. He was randomly never in the room when bad things happen.

[purplexninjamom]

Something I never thought about. But that makes sense. Nice. Thank you!

[NukeMarine]

You listen to this and realize Varys likely had plans for both Ned and Robert's bastard shipping them both north to join the Night's Watch. Likely, both would have been "captured" en route and Ned given the option like Barristan to go to Essos to serve with fAegon. Of course Varys castling attempt was countered by Littlefinger who made to remove the rook (Ned) from the board. Seeing the bigger game at play is so much more fascinating with these deeper looks.

[thepunisher]

Barristan's betrayal could fit into Dany's three betrayals prophecy as the betrayal for blood, turning on her for Faegon who claims to be further in the line of succession

[spensirmclife]

Okay people have probably had this theory before but the reason Illyrio gave Dany the dragon eggs was probably if they hatch there be 3 dragons, when they are secretly supporting 3 supposed Targaryens where all of them would be able to weaken the realm. Viserys burning the country alongside Dany, but Young Griff claiming the third, slaying the new mad king and marrying Dany as start of a new dynasty

[WatashiMachineFullCycle]

I've read these books so many times and somehow I didn't pay attention to that line from Cercei about Varys being the one to suggest Barristan take the fall for Robert's death. That's an insanely good catch, and I think you're right on the money about him.

[AndrewK]

Great vid IDG and HoW. Really well done as usual, some aspects haven't thought about in a while and some presented clues / evidence i've either forgotten or missed previously. Knowing Varys' current aim is to destabilize and weaken the current Westerosi monarchy and encourage some chaos in the realm until his champion (fAegon) makes his move. Makes perfect sense for Varys to be engineering Selmy's removal and influencing some of the manner of and reaction to that dismissal to push Barristan where V wants him to go. Selmy is a super honorable, loyal and legendary knight / kingsguard, losing him is a massive blow to the Lannisters ; despite Cersei and Joffrey predictably not realizing that. Whoever Selmy links up with automatically gets a degree of good favor, prestige and legitimacy. So makes sense to bring him over to team fAegon / Young Griff directly or indirectly and / or to Dany who is still potentially in their plans to link up with their claimant (Young Griff) via marriage or otherwise. Until they figure out no chance of that as DT is beyond their control.

As the vid mentions still leaves the chance that placing Selmy on Team Dany for the moment leaves the possibility of him coming over to team fAegon later on. Less directly if they can persuade Dany to join forces with fAegon one way or the other (which isn't happening). Or more directly via playing on Selmy's prevailing long held ingrained loyalties to the Targs and defect over to team fAegon. Who Selmy may eventually view as the better Targ alternative. And with Varys' and Illyrio's plans for symbols of legitimacy with fAegon - likely the sword Blackfyre, ( I also suspect Aegon I's lost crown eventually) Jon Conn (former Hand to an actual Targ king & Targ loyalist who served / fought for the Targs) Rolly / Duck as fake Dunk, eventually Darkstar as fake Arthur Dayne etc. Bringing over Barristan an actual legendary warrior, knight and kingsguard (to multiple monarchs) with a stellar reputation who brings the prestige, legitimacy, honor and seriousness of their claim to another level ; would certainly fit their M.O.

[RAH]

Well said. I had some thoughts that things fell into line for the dragon queen to perfectly at times

[LOSTKILLERDRAENEI]

I doubt Ser Barristan would betray Dany after she has given her trust to him. But he may have major problems with her and end up conflicted when he can't advise her as she goes into a conquering mood, the human heart in conflict with itself.

[dmfd]

"a tower to die in and servants to bury me".

[richardtabor]

yuuuusss! I didn't know I needed this in my life today. ty for the content!

[marvelerful]

the Timmy Chamms AI Faegon art sent me omg I swear lmao

[carastone]

Ah! Now I get it. The show didn’t really give us any indication that Barriston didn’t feel good about being in Robert’s kings guard or joffrey’s; he just seems to immediately go to Dany after being forcibly retired and greatly insulted by Joffrey & Cersei. I wondered about his true loyalty because of that. I’m reading the books now, but am only on A Clash of Kings, so this was helpful. Thank you!

[bhorrthunderhoof]

A very complicated intrigue indeed! I want to see more of In Deep Geek, much more!

[carlrood]

So what was Varys and Illyrio's original plan? I'm talking way back when Varys went to work for Aerys. Unless Young Griff is several years older than he appears, there was no child for them to put on the throne.

[lluewhyn]

"What do you imagine they'll think when they see Ser Barristan the Bold riding beside Robb Stark or Stannis Baratheon?"

PR and Public Image management is a HUGE theme of the books, and why a subject like "honor" is a much more complicated subject in them as well. People like Ned are shown in the last book to have some advantages because of their reputation for justice and fairness over someone like Tywin, whose funeral is almost a point of mockery.

The Show simplified this to "Whoever schemes and backstabs the most wins the Game of Thrones" and has themes like "Honor gets you killed".